The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-01-13
IIEPROSY AND PRIDE.
Sermon by Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage, D. D.
The Sick Warrior and How He Was
Observation-Disclosures and Life-The
One Flood of Pardon, Peace,
Life and Heaven.

Life and Heaven.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, Dec. 12.-Rev. DR..
Talmage took for his text this morning the
first verse of the fifth chapter of Second
Kings: 'sHe Was Leper." The preacher
said:
Here we have warrior sick, not with
pleurisy or rheumatism or consumption,
but with disease worse than all these put
together. A red mark has come out on his
forehead, precursor Of complete disfgure-
ment and dissolution. l have something
awful to tell you: General Naaman, the
Commander-in- Chief of all the Syrian
forces, has the leprosy; it is on his hands,
on his face, on his feet, on his entire per-
son. The leprosyl Get out of the way of
the pestilence If his breath strikes you you
are dead man. The COMMUNICATIVE Chief
of all the forces of Syria! And yet he
would be glad to exchange conditions with
the boy at his stirrup or the hostler that
blankets his charger. The news goes like
wildfire all through the realm, and the peo-
pie are sympathetic, and they cry out: SIS
it possible that our great hero who shot
Ahab, and around whom we came with
such vociferation when he returned from
victorious batJle-can it be possible that
our grand and glorious Naaman has the
leprosya"
Yes Every body has something he wishes
he had not-David, an Absalom to disgrace
him; Paul, thorn to sting him; Job, car
buncles to plague him; Samson, Delilah
to shear him; Ahab, a Naboth to deny him;
Hannah, Mordecai to irritate him; George
Washington, childlessness to afflict him;
John Wesley, termagant wife to poster
him; Leah, weak eyes; Pope, crooked
back; Byron, a club foot; John Milton,
blind eyes; Charles Lamb an insane sister;
and you, and you, and you, and you, some
thing which you never bargained for, and
would like to get rid of. The reason of this
is, that God does not want this world to be
too bright; otherwise we would always
want to stay and eat these fruits, and lie
on these lounges, and shake hands in this
pleasant society.
We are only in the vestibule Of grand
temple. God does not want US to stay on
the doorstep, and, therefore, He sends
aches, and annOyances, and sorrows, and
bereavements of all sorts, to push us up
toward ripper fruits, and brighter society,
and more radiant properties. God is only
whipping us ahead. The reason that Ed
ward Payson and Robert Hall had more
rapturous views of Heaven than other
people had was because, through their
aches and pains, God pushed them up
nearer to it. If God dashes out one of
your pictures, it is only to show you a
brighter one. If He sting your foot with
govt. your brain with neuralgia, your
tongue with an inextinguishable thirst, it
is only because He is preparing to substi-
tute better body than you ever dreamed
of, when the mortal shall put on immor-
tally.
Seated in his Syrian mansion-all the
walls glittering with the shields he had
captured in battle, the corridors crowded
with admiring visitors who just wanted to
see him once, music and mirth and ban
quoting filling all the mansion, from tessel-
ated floor to pictured ceiling -Naaman
would have forgotten that there was any
thing better, and would have been glad to
stay there ten Thousand years. But, oh,
how the shields dim. and how the visitors
fly from the hall, and how the music drops
dead from the string, and how the gates of
the mansion slam shut with sepulchral
bang, as you read the closing words of the
eulogium: "He was a leperr'
There was one person more sympathetic
with General Naaman than any other per-
son. Naaman's wife walks the floor,
wringing her hands and trying to think
what she can do to alleviate her husbands
suffering. All remedies have failed The
Surgeon General and the doctors Of the
royal staff have met, and they have shaken
their heads as much as to say: stNo cure;
no cure" ] think that the offlce-seekers
had all folded up their recommendations
and gone home. Probably most of the
employees of the establishment had dropped
their work and were thinking of looking
for some other situation. What shall now
become OF poor Mammals wife2 She must
have sympathy somewhere. In her de-
spair she goes to little Hebrew captive
a servant girl in her house, to whom she
tells the whole story, as sometimes, when
overborne with the sorrows Of the world
and finding no sympathy anywhere else
you have gone out and found in the sympa
thy of some humble domestic-Rosa, or Di
nah, or Bridget help which the world
could not give you.
What a scene it wasi One of the grand.
est women in all Syria in cabinet council
with waiting maid over the declining
health of the mighty General 81 know
something" says the little captive maid
II know something" as she bounds to her
bare feet. SIN the land from which was
stolen there is a certain prophet known by
the name Of Elisha, who can cure almost
every thing, and shouldn't wonder if hi
could cure my master. Send for him righ
away" s'Oh, hush," you say. eff The
highest medical talent in all the land car
not cure that leper, there is no need of YOU
listening to any talk Of servant girl.n Blu
do not SCOT, do not sneer. The finger Of tha
little captive maid is pointing in the RICH
direction. She might have said: "This i.
Judgment on you for stealing me from my
native land. Didn't they snatch me off il
the night, breaking my fathers and moth
er's heart, and many a time have lait
and cried all night because was so home
sick" Then flushing up into childish in
dignation she might have said: GOOD FOL
them; am glad Naaman's got the lepro
sy; wish all the Syrians had the leprosy.'
No. Forgetting her own personal sorrows
she sympathizes with the suffering of hel
master and recommends him to the famou.
Hebrew prophet.
Years ago the astronomers calculated
that there must be world hanging at
certain point in the Heavens, and q large
prize was offered for some one who could
discover that world. The telescopes from
the great observatories were pointed il
vain, but girl at Nantucket, Mass, fash
Toned telescope, and, looking through it
discovered that star, and won the prize ani
the admiration Of all the ASTRONOMERS